Released on:
Lifeforms
Runtime: 6:13
‘Room 208’ opens with yet another lengthy environment, full of reversed sounds and an old field recording from Brian’s early years in Glasgow, also released as ‘Rockenglen Park’ from Zeebox 2. It’s testament to the pair’s sound manipulation skills that a recording of a city park sounds so exotic; once again, one is reminded of a tribal language being shouted, rather than something from 1980s Scotland. A second, shorter environment follows, featuring more electric guitar – the guitar is a surprisingly common instrument in the band’s catalogue – and then the main track gets going. ‘Room 208’ is the closest Lifeforms comes to ‘funky’, with a groovy bassline and a somewhat danceable beat. The main synth melody is almost whimsically upbeat, and the mood of the album returns to that found on ‘Vit‘ and ‘Life Form Ends‘. The piece itself lasts only around half of the track’s runtime, with a new plucked melody section taking up the final couple of minutes. It’s slightly more melancholic in nature, giving the track – with its two environments, and upbeat and downbeat sections – a huge range of images and emotions. The closing environment continues into the following track.
One of the earliest tracks to be broadcast from Lifeforms, ‘Room 208’ was premiered in May 1993 on the second Kiss FM Transmission. The title doesn’t get a reference in the Lifeforms glossary, but has an entire story to itself, which seems to involve a threesome between a Spanish woman, Yage and Pinn. Set after ‘the Art Futura show’ – probably a reference to the 1995 transmission to the Art Futura festival – the story is likely embellished and possibly entirely untruthful; the appearance of the room number, at least, is at best a coincidence, with the track existing two years before the band’s appearance at the festival.
Credits
Written and produced by FSOL.
Written by Dougans/Cobain.
Engineered by Yage.
Recorded at EarthBeat Studios – London.
Fractional Difference 